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Raymond Chandler
Paperback

Raymond Chandler

$60.99
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The position of Raymond Chandler in the pantheon of American letters has long been subject to much debate. Naturally imbued with a literary sensibility Chandler helped to revolutionise the crime genre, bringing to it a colourful, hard edged vernacular allied to a modern social commentary. Through the figure of private eye, Philip Marlowe, Chandler created a contemporary knight errant whose not so picturesque adventures trudging the mean streets of Los Angeles helped to vividly define the moral dilemmas of a dark, uncertain post-war world. And yet - can The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely and Lady in the Lake be considered ‘literature’? Author Anthony Fowles - who freely admits to writing half-adozen ‘sub-Chandlerian’ thrillers - brings to the discussion both the detached eye of the professional critic and the sympathetic understanding of the practitioner. It is a background which allows Fowles to make a balanced, finely-nuanced contribution to the ongoing Chandler debate, refusing to relegate the noir master to the wilderness of ‘genre writer’ but equally avoiding outlandish claims of literary pre-eminence. In circumventing the pitfalls and simplicities of ‘either/or’, Fowles places Chandler’s achievements in a fully-realised context, enabling the reader to appreciate more deeply the peculiar strengths and limitations of the prose lyricist of the American mid-century.

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MORE INFO
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Greenwich Exchange Ltd
Country
United Kingdom
Date
14 August 2014
Pages
206
ISBN
9781906075873

The position of Raymond Chandler in the pantheon of American letters has long been subject to much debate. Naturally imbued with a literary sensibility Chandler helped to revolutionise the crime genre, bringing to it a colourful, hard edged vernacular allied to a modern social commentary. Through the figure of private eye, Philip Marlowe, Chandler created a contemporary knight errant whose not so picturesque adventures trudging the mean streets of Los Angeles helped to vividly define the moral dilemmas of a dark, uncertain post-war world. And yet - can The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely and Lady in the Lake be considered ‘literature’? Author Anthony Fowles - who freely admits to writing half-adozen ‘sub-Chandlerian’ thrillers - brings to the discussion both the detached eye of the professional critic and the sympathetic understanding of the practitioner. It is a background which allows Fowles to make a balanced, finely-nuanced contribution to the ongoing Chandler debate, refusing to relegate the noir master to the wilderness of ‘genre writer’ but equally avoiding outlandish claims of literary pre-eminence. In circumventing the pitfalls and simplicities of ‘either/or’, Fowles places Chandler’s achievements in a fully-realised context, enabling the reader to appreciate more deeply the peculiar strengths and limitations of the prose lyricist of the American mid-century.

Read More
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Greenwich Exchange Ltd
Country
United Kingdom
Date
14 August 2014
Pages
206
ISBN
9781906075873